Midland ready for revisions to zoning ordinance

Published 9:00 pm, Thursday, July 18, 2002

The information has been gathered and goals have been set. The City of Midland is ready to write.

From now until October, planning commissioners, city staffers and McKennna Associates planners will work to draft chapters of its revised zoning ordinance.

"Readability and useability" are the major goals, said City Planning Director Jon Lynch. "We're going to try to to avoid legalese. We're going to have it written in a very straightforward manner."

When McKenna staffers, who have been charged with guiding Midland through the rewrite, sit down to craft the ordinance, they will use information from three public input sessions held in past months, and from interviews they have conducted with community developers.

Lynch said some of the components that Midlanders want include landscaping specification, access management and a streamlined process review. Cellular towers and signs also will be addressed.

When residents and the planning commission first review the document, they will get an explanation of the language. McKenna will guide them through the changes, compare the new document to the old ordinance and talk about how it will function.

In November and December, a draft of the ordinance will be presented to the public and open for comment. City Council also will begin the adoption of the new language.

Updates to the subdivision ordinance will begin in December, and drafts will be prepared in January and March.

Public hearings on the new version will be held in April and are expected to be adopted in May and June.

To view the results of public input sessions and check progress on the ordinance revision, visit www.midland-mi.org and click on the Community Development Toolbox link.